(Photo: Pax Ahimsa Gethen)Over the past eight months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota have been joined by more than 200 allied tribes and tens of thousands of non-Native activists for a nonviolent resistance campaign against Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The pipeline, which has been projected to transport at least 470,000 barrels of oil per day over 1,100 miles from the Bakken oil field to an existing hub in Illinois for delivery to refineries on the Gulf Coast, was rerouted in 2014 from north of Bismarck to the south, taking it through unceded treaty lands of the Sioux. Pipeline construction over this altered route desecrated sacred ancestral sites, and, until last Sunday, was slated to cross the Missouri River at the Lake Oahe reservoir, which would have threatened the safety of the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux and millions of people downstream.

Since April 1, individuals, groups and organizations from around the world have come together at Standing Rock to proclaim Mni Wiconi, Lakota for “water is life.” They have put their bodies and freedom on the line in support of the water protectors of the #NoDAPL effort. Veterans For Peace (VFP), on whose board of directors I currently serve, is one of these organizations. We released a solidarity statement in September. A number of our members have been actively involved in the campaign. In mid-October, I had the great privilege and honor of joining nearly a dozen of my VFP colleagues at the main resistance camp, Oceti Sakowin (the proper name for the Sioux, meaning Seven Council Fires). During my visit, I was welcomed with respect, kindness and love, and treated as a family member – a relative, a profound experience of Mitakuye Oyasin, a Lakota term/prayer meaning "all my relations" or "we are all related."

As of last week, DAPL construction was all but completed. It seemed nothing could stop the Black Snake, as the Native people call it (a moniker that is based on an old Lakota prophecy which speaks of a “black snake” bringing destruction and devastation). Then, last Sunday, following various legal decisions over many months that allowed the pipeline construction to continue, the easement to cross Lake Oahe was abruptly denied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The announcement came down just hours before an evacuation order for the Oceti Sakowin Camp, which was issued by USACE in late November, was set to take effect. USACE added that it would be undertaking an environmental impact statement (EIS) to examine possible alternate pipeline routes. The decision was hailed by many as a significant victory for the #NoDAPL struggle.

Following news of the easement denial, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II released a statement, which read in part: “…We want to thank everyone who played a role in advocating for this cause…Throughout this effort I have stressed the importance of acting at all times in a peaceful and prayerful manner – and that is how we will respond to this decision….We hope that Kelcey [sic] Warren, Governor Dalrymple, and the incoming Trump administration respect this decision and understand the complex process that led us to this point…Treaties are paramount law and must be respected, and we welcome dialogue on how to continue to honor that moving forward...To our local law enforcement, I hope that we can work together to heal our relationship as we all work to protect the lives and safety of our people. I recognize the extreme stress that the situation caused and look forward to a future that reflects more mutual understanding and respect.”

After months of waves of brutal crackdown tactics perpetrated against the water protectors by militarized police and private DAPL security forces, which included the use of attack dogs, sonic cannons, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and water cannons in freezing temperatures, thousands of veterans, under the operation banner Veterans Stand For Standing Rock (VSSR), organized by Wesley Clark, Jr. (son of retired U.S. Army General and former presidential candidate Wesley Clark,) and Marine veteran Michael A. Wood, Jr., converged at Standing Rock to stand in solidarity with the resistance.

Based at least in part on their military experience, many of the veterans who joined VSSR wanted to intervene in and stop long-standing U.S. imperial policy of waging war for resources against vulnerable peoples. They understood that this was not something strictly happening abroad; it was also happening at home. They recognized that the violence against the water protectors was an expression of rampant U.S. militarism and structural white supremacy. They were aware that the targeting of Indigenous sovereignty by a colonial power is a strategic tool, used to dispirit, conquer and exterminate. They knew that the genocidal war against American Indians has never ended. Rather, it abates periodically until more resources are coveted, such as oil and lands to lay pipeline.

Violation of the basic human rights of our Native sisters and brothers in the name of profit has been a recurring theme throughout U.S. history, often carried out through acts of state terrorism. The militaristic response by the state of North Dakota and ETP toward the unarmed water protectors has been one of the most blatant examples of this theme to unfold in modern times. The veterans of VSSR, like the activists who came to Standing Rock before, could not stand idly by and allow these abuses to continue. These veterans felt an obligation to do all they could to stop the assault on this land's original peoples. As American Indian rights activist, author and educator Four Arrows said in a recently published article, “The courage recognized in many veterans seems inherent in all Indigenous peoples who have managed to follow traditional ways. This is why especially courageous veterans seem to get along so well with American Indians. In the Indigenous worldview that guided all of us for 99 percent of human history, generosity is the ultimate expression of courage and fearlessness.”

The VSSR mobilization, which included dozens of VFP members, was in its first official day when USACE’s rejection of DAPL’s easement was announced. It is reasonable to believe that the convergence of veterans at Standing Rock influenced the decision, even if only in some small way. Officials may have been acting to prevent conditions that could have led to a confrontation between law enforcement and the veterans, which would have been a national tragedy and a political nightmare. While we may never know for certain if VSSR had any sway over the decision-makers, it is safe to say that a considerable increase in the mainstream media coverage and public’s awareness of the situation occurred in the days prior to and during the VSSR operation. All things considered, the veterans played a small but important role in a much larger effort to prevent DAPL from crossing Lake Oahe.

Last Sunday’s decision was an historic win for American Indian rights and environmental justice. More specifically, it was a win for the Standing Rock Sioux and the millions of non-Native people who would have been put at risk by DAPL going under the Missouri. It is an affirmation of the strength of the resistance, which demonstrated that prayerful people, guided by the virtues of fortitude, courage, humility and peacefulness, can indeed overcome enormous adversity. The power of nonviolence that was harnessed by the Native-led struggle on the North Dakota prairie over eight long months chipped away at the foundation of plutocratic and corporate interests that frequently put profit over people.

Only time will tell if ETP has indeed been defeated. In a statement released by ETP just hours after the easement denial was announced, the company vowed to push forward with the pipeline on the route that takes it through treaty lands and under Lake Oahe. We know that the incoming Trump administration has different financial and business ties to the fossil fuel industry. ETP’s strategy may well be to bide their time until Trump takes office. Or, perhaps they will seek a legal ruling beforehand that could overturn USACE’s decision. The fight to force ETP to re-route the pipeline is probably not over.

The #NoDAPL resistance has not ended, nor should it. People should continue to divest from the banks financing the pipeline and urge these banks to reconsider their funding. People should contact their elected officials and demand justice for Standing Rock, including investigations into the hostile and unconstitutional acts of Governor Dalrymple and his police. Vigilance must be maintained and the prayerful and peaceful campaign must continue on the ground even in the wake of Sunday’s decision. History tells us that settler colonialism, environmental racism and corporate fascism are three very resilient evils. The resistance must be equally resilient.

Regardless of the future decisions and actions of the government and ETP and the nonviolent struggle against it, our children and grandchildren will be told of the historic unification of Native tribes and the efficacy of people power that made Sunday’s victory possible. It is imperative that we put our trust not in the promises of government but in the actions of people who hold their government accountable to those promises. Nonviolent direct action has been proven to work in grassroots movements and campaigns against oppression. Whatever the outcome of DAPL construction, the beautiful and enduring spirit of bridging differences to work collectively to protect and secure human rights, as seen in the #NoDAPL resistance, is something that will inform and inspire peace and justice efforts worldwide for many years to come.

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Brian Trautman is an Army veteran, peace educator/activist, and national board member of Veterans For Peace. On Twitter @brianjtrautman.

Dr. Ben Carson, a failed presidential candidate and a retired neurosurgeon, with absolutely no other housing experience other than he lives in one, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Back in September of last year, Carson was seen as a contender for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, and he was rapidly gaining on Trump in the polls. Then, the bottom fell out. Perhaps it was his lackluster performances at the debates, during which he seemed to be sleepwalking. Or perhaps Carson's run was designed merely to increase his name recognition with the public. Carson eventually dropped out and threw his support to Trump. And now, he is reaping the reward.

Carson will enter office as a blank slate. This is perhaps the only area that Trump really might be "draining the swamp," only in this case he's draining it of any experience and competence.

As I wrote in September 2015, "Carson may be soft-spoken and mild-mannered in his demeanor, but he may -- and I say this carefully -- out-Trump Trump when it comes to embodying the wacky."

Trump has experience with the working of HUD through the operations of the Fair Housing Act, an act he apparently violated consistently by refusing to rent to African Americans before he got into the luxury building business.

There's a good chance that like every other social safety net program, HUD will be on the chopping block. According to The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The American Enterprise Institute, a longtime conservative research organization, "cited housing assistance programs as among those 'ripe for reform'' under Mr. Trump.

Stolberg, the newspaper's Mid-Atlantic bureau chief, provided a short primer on the work of HUD:

HUD devotes itself to ensuring that families of low-income and modest means have access to safe homes and neighborhoods. It runs the Federal Housing Administration, which helps people get home loans. It distributes money through the Community Development Block Grant program, a flexible source of funding used by cities for redevelopment and for rebuilding communities after natural disasters like floods and hurricanes. HUD runs the Section 8 housing choice voucher program, which cities rely on to help house the poor. And it enforces the Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which makes housing discrimination illegal.

According to Stolberg, "Most HUD secretaries have had government experience. George Romney, who served under Richard M. Nixon, was a governor. Jack Kemp, who served under George Bush, was a congressman. Henry Cisneros, who served under Bill Clinton, was a mayor; so was Julian Castro, the current secretary."

Meet your new HUD head: An inveterate opponent of Obamacare, Carson called it "the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery?" He has said that America is "very much like Nazi Germany?" After Michael Brown was shot down by police in Ferguson, Carson suggested that he may have caused his own murder? He once told a television interviewer that "poverty is really more of a choice than anything else." If you need an opinion or a controversial remark from an African American conservative, Dr. Ben Carson has a quiver full, and he delivers them with a slight smile on his face and a soft-spoken manner.

And, like Trump, Carson "hate[s] political correctness so much." "I'm not a politician and I don't believe in political correctness," he has said. "I may say something that may offend someone. I frankly never plan on becoming a politician. That doesn't mean I won't do something in political office, but I won't become a politician in the process. The reason I hate political correctness so much is because it's antithetical to the founding principle of our nation – freedom of speech and freedom of expression. We have reached the point in this country where the average citizen is afraid to express himself. "

One thing that appeared to appeal to Republican primary voters – at least for a nanosecond – was Carson's demeanor; plodding through answers to questions in a decidedly understated voice.

In late 2013, Carson was added as a Fox News contributor. In a profile published last year, I wrote that, according to Wikipedia, he is credited with being the first doctor to successfully separate conjoined twins at the head. Carson is emeritus professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. According to an amazon.com bio, he 'serves on the corporate boards of the Kellogg Company, Costco Wholesale Corp., and American's Promise, among others, and is an Emeritus Fellow of the Yale Corporation.'"

Carson has written several books including One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future (May 2014), which is currently on the New York Times bestseller list. Carson, on tour with this book, recently drew huge crowds at several appearances in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the home base of numerous evangelical outfits.

Carson is also the author of America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great (January 2012) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (co-authored with Cecil Murphy -- November 1996).

In the primaries, Carson was the designated Republican Party conservative African American. In 2012, it was Herman Cain, the former CEO of the Godfather's Pizza chain, who boasted about his lack of political experience, and later was derailed by charges of sexual improprieties. Alan Keyes, the former diplomat and controversial conservative radio and television talk show host, made several runs at the GOP's nomination (1996, 2000, 2008). He was the darling of the Religious Right, and was always the most articulate man in the room. The Illinois Republican Party even drafted Keyes to run against Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate, a race in which he was overwhelmingly defeated.

In an appearance with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor," during his presidential run, Carson allowed that he had no government experience: "There's no question that I haven't spent a lot of time in government, but it doesn't mean you can't make sure you have people around you who have spent that time. I think the thing that is actually more important is wisdom and understanding and knowing how to use facts."

"As brilliant as folks have said that Dr. Carson is from a neurosurgery standpoint, creating fair housing, promoting economic development and having people living in prospering communities is a little different than operating on somebody's brain," Former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter said. "I do not know how that translates into being HUD secretary."

Portland, Oregon, has just adopted a new ordinance that will tax excessive CEO pay, according to a news release from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, DC:

In a 3-1 vote, the council agreed to add a surtax on the city's existing business license tax for firms that pay their CEOs more than 100 times what their typical worker receives. This will be the nation's first tax penalty for extreme CEO-worker pay gaps.

IPS issues a report each year called "Executive Excess." In a September commentary, I wrote about this year's report, which found that the nation's top 20 US banks gave their executives more than $2 billion dollars in tax-deductible bonuses over the past four years.

The problem of exorbitant executive pay is not limited to Wall Street and the financial world. One study at Glass Door Research estimated that "the average CEO earns 204 times median worker pay." Estimates vary from study to study, though, and it is hard to pin down numbers for some companies. However, due to a new Securities and Exchange Commission regulation, companies will be required as of 2017 to report information on worker and CEO pay that will lead to the government and other organizations being able to peg the exact CEO-to-worker ratios at any given company. Nonetheless, there is enough public information now to demonstrate that a large number of CEO salaries and bonuses far exceed 100 times the median worker salary.

Sarah Anderson, who is a co-editor of Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies and has been the lead author on all 23 of the Institute's annual "Executive Excess" reports, explained to me how the Portland tax on excessive CEO income will be levied:

Publicly traded companies with extreme pay gaps will pay a surtax on top of the city's current business license tax. The surtax will be 10 percent of the business tax liability for companies with a CEO-worker pay ratio of more than 100-to-1 and 25 percent for companies with a ratio of more than 250-to-1. The Portland government has identified more than 500 corporations that do enough business in the city to be affected by the surtax, including many that regularly dominate the highest-paid CEO lists, such as Oracle, Honeywell, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and General Electric.

The increasingly lopsided CEO-to-worker pay ratio has become a stinging symbol of income inequality in the United States, but Portland is the first city to take a local approach to taxing extremely excessive executive pay. Portland's action refutes the notion that only federal legislation could inhibit ballooning CEO pay. The IPS news release notes, "according to the Portland revenue department, most large US cities have tax structures that allow for a similar CEO pay surtax."

IPS also speculates that Portland's action may enable federal legislation, although it's hard to see the master of tax invasion, billionaire Donald Trump, encouraging such action. In the age of Trump, we are going to be relying more heavily on local government to achieve progressive goals. As Anderson told me:

By linking this new CEO-worker pay metric to local tax policy, Portland is demonstrating how policymakers can act in a responsible way to narrow what has become a very dangerous economic divide. The Portland precedent will inspire many other cities and states -- and maybe even the federal government -- to take similar action.

By investing the revenue from the tax in services for the poor and middle class, the surtax will further reduce inequality. Revenue from the Portland surtax is estimated by the city to range from $2.5 million to $3.5 million per year. And as Trump and Republican members of Congress push tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that will gut the federal budget, states and cities will need to do more to find new sources of revenue that are fair and progressive.

Portland is attacking income inequality in two ways, by taxing grossly excessive CEO income and by investing the revenue that it will generate in services for those in need.

It's the kind of creative local idea we are going to need to advocate for, particularly during this time of progressive political eclipse on the federal electoral level. As Anderson emphasized to BuzzFlash, "By adopting this surtax, Portland is taking a stand against one of the key drivers of extreme inequality -- a broken CEO pay system that benefits the very few at the expense of the rest of us."

The president-elect stumbles over the protocols of geopolitics and war, tweeting all the way.

It's not just insane. It's awkward.

"Since 1979," the Guardian points out, "the U.S. has acknowledged Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part of China, with relations governed by the 'One China' set of protocols."

But here's what Donald Trump did: He took a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-we. In so doing, he became the first U.S. president or president-elect to speak directly to the Taiwanese leader in 37 years. Furthermore, he referred to her as the president of Taiwan, not the president on Taiwan, seemingly implying that the island province is actually an independent nation, totally freaking out mainland China -- and jolting our relations with that country big time. You don't want the wrong preposition to start World War 4.

Furthermore: "Weeks before President-elect Donald Trump's controversial phone call with Taiwan's president," the Guardian story continues, ". . . a businesswoman claiming to be associated with his conglomerate made inquiries about a major investment in building luxury hotels as part of the island's new airport development."

These claims "add to growing concerns about potential conflicts of interest between Trump's business empire and U.S. foreign policy."

This is the emerging framework for a Trump presidency: He's a geopolitical know-nothing who refuses to sever ties to his vast array of business interests, turning the American presidency into an endless opportunity for conflicts of interest and, in the process, endangering national and global security. That's the "insanity" part.

But the "awkward" part is even more disturbing. The arrogant one revealed it in his own self-defensive Tweet afterwards: "Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call."

Say what?

Well, yes, the Obama administration authorized a $1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan last year, Reuters reported. The package included lots of missiles, two frigates, amphibious assault vehicles, guns and ammo, all courtesy of two of America's military-industrial stalwarts, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

So while no U.S. president has talked to the leader of Taiwan since 1979, or carelessly used an inappropriate preposition in referring to him or her, we've been selling high-tech weapons of war to the Chinese province all along. Six years ago, there was an even bigger arms deal, totaling$6.4 billion, including 60 Black Hawk helicopters and $2.85 billion worth of missiles. How can this be?

It's simply the world we live in: preposterously volatile but at the same time lucrative and dispassionately self-justifying. Here's how Max Fisher explained it in the New York Times a few days ago: "By selling Taiwan arms, the United States ensures that the island can deter an invasion from the mainland's far larger military. This maintains a balance of power that, while fragile, is intended to prevent war."

Our One China policy turns out to be a tad strange. In establishing ties with mainland China, we've gone so far as to acknowledge that there is a single entity that is China and that entity includes Taiwan. But because Taiwan is also our ally and a fellow democracy, we have also honored, over the years, an obligation to "protect" it by selling it lots and lots and lots of weapons. This is called the Taiwan Relations Act.

"United States arms sales to Taiwan have indeed been controversial, particularly with Beijing," Fisher acknowledged: "But they are an approach intended to maintain the status quo."

Trump's behavior, on the other hand, by "granting Taiwan's leader informal recognition . . . is different because it disturbs the status quo."

So there you have it. But pardon me if I sit and ponder for a moment, with open-mouthed incredulity, the status quo being explained to me. The weapons sales, unsurprisingly, do push China to the edge of fury, but . . . they're weapons. Presumably, they're also what keep that fury contained. So it's all neat and clean: This is the volatile peace of Planet Earth, a.k.a., the status quo, maintained by billions of dollars of weapons circling the planet annually, mostly thanks to the U.S.A., which accounts for nearly half the planet's annual weapons sales.

"Arms deals are a way of life in Washington,"William Hartung wrote recently at TomDispatch. "From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. From the president on his trips abroad to visit allied world leaders to the secretaries of state and defense to the staffs of US embassies, American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. And the Pentagon is their enabler. From brokering, facilitating, and literally banking the money from arms deals to transferring weapons to favored allies on the taxpayers' dime, it is in essence the world's largest arms dealer."

This is the status quo: dark, quiet . . . lucrative. The Obama administration has approved the sale of more than $200 billion worth of weapons during its tenure, some $60 billion more than George W. Bush did. Generally, weapons sales aren't seriously questioned, or even discussed, except at the political margins. They come wrapped in the language of salesmanship: They ensure the safety of the customer; they ensure everyone's safety, including our own. No matter the weapons of war circulate the globe endlessly and keep everyone armed, friend and foe alike.

Trump, who of course is married to the status quo in his own special way, nonetheless saunters clumsily and cluelessly through the corridors of power, exposing its volatile secrets as he goes. Maybe this is how the world changes -- in spite of itself.

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His book,Courage Grows Strong at the Woundis available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.

A six-inch crude oil pipeline operated by Belle Fourche Pipeline Company in western North Dakota was shut down following discovery of a leak on Monday. The amount of the spill was not immediately known, but oil has leaked into the Ash Coulee Creek in Billings County.

The site of the spill is about 200 miles from the camp where members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their supporters have been protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

"It is a significant spill," Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of health, said.

"A series of booms have been placed across the creek to prevent downstream migration and a siphon dam has been constructed four miles downstream of the release point."

The Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. is part of the family-owned True companies, which also operates Bridger Pipeline LLC. Both pipelines are operated from the same control room in Casper, Wyoming. From 2006 to 2014, Belle Fourche reported 21 incidents, leaking a total of 272,832 gallons of oil. Bridger Pipeline recorded nine pipeline incidents in the same period, spilling nearly 11,000 gallons of crude.

"In general, Bridger has a poor compliance history," wrote a federal regulator charged with overseeing pipeline safety in a 2012 order regarding a 2006 oil spill.

A Belle Fourche pipeline that spilled 12,200 gallons in May, 2014 occurred on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land near Buffalo, Wyoming. It was later discovered that Belle Fourche did not have a permit to operate the land. Its sister company, Bridger, was fined $27,029 for trespassing by the BLM.

While operators claim that oil pipelines are safer than trains or trucks, an aging infrastructure and inadequate oversight leads to numerous leaks, most of which never make headlines. A Nov. 30 analysis by Citylab revealed that more than 9,000 significant accidents over the past 20 years have resulted in 548 deaths, 2,576 injuries and more than $8.5 billion in financial damages. An Oct. 25 analysis by EcoWatch found 220 significant pipeline spills to date in 2016 and showed that the number of significant pipeline incidents has grown 26.8 percent from 2006 to 2015.

The Belle Fourche and Bridger pipelines transport crude oil in the Williston Basin of western North Dakota and eastern Montana and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.